Death Becomes Me
(Call
Me Grim #2)
by
Elizabeth Holloway
Publication
Date: November 2015
Genre:
YA, Paranormal
Libbi
and Aaron are Grim Reapers on the run. They may have escaped their hometown of
Carroll Falls unscathed, and are together and alive (well, more or less), but
they’ll soon find there’s a price to pay. A deadly one.
By
escaping Carroll Falls, Libbi and Aaron have broken the Reaper’s covenant with
Abaddon, aka Death himself – and now they’re right at the top of Abaddon’s Most
Wanted list. There’s nowhere to hide, and not a single person, alive or dead,
they can turn to for help.
But
just as it's looking like the end of the line, Libbi hears word of a Reaper in
hiding – a Reaper who once escaped Abaddon's wrath. Finding this mysterious
Reaper might be the perfect solution… if Death doesn’t find them first.
EXCERPT
A Little Horror
“She’s
in the house,” I say.
“I
know.” He snatches his shoes from my hands and shoves his sockless feet into
them. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“How?
She’s downstairs. We’ll run right into her.”
He
glances at the wall behind him and shakes his head. Nope. Can’t get out that
way. He turns back around and points
straight at the wall of junk that blocks the expansive attic.
“We
run through all of that,” he says. “And when we get outside, we fly.”
As
huge as the attic is, it looks like a postage stamp when I think of using it as
a runway. Plus, I have to run through all of that stuff? I really wish I had
more time to practice the Reaper powers before we left Carroll Falls. It would
have been useful.
“That’s
not enough of a head start for me, Aaron,” I say. “Still a novice, here.”
The
attic door squeaks. A solid thump on the bottom step.
“No
time for a better plan.” He seizes my hand. “Whatever happens, don’t let her
touch you. Got it?”
I
nod once.
And
we run. Back the way we came. Straight through the wardrobe with the broken
door. Through the leaning towers of boxes and mountains of clothes and papers
and trash. Toward Bobby’s bedroom.
The
attic stairs appear in the middle of the rubbish. We have to pass them if we
want enough speed to fly when we reach the wall at the other end of the house.
An
ashen hand slaps down on the railing at the top of the staircase. Annalise’s greasy,
dark head pops up above the railing. Her head rotates. The skin on her neck
cracks and greenish-yellow fluid leaks from the wound. Her eyes find us.
I
was right. There are no eyes there. Just inky-black orbs.
“What
are you doing?” The voice that oozes from her throat is deep, cold, menacing.
But there’s no mistaking the surprise in it. “You don’t belong here.”
Oily
tendrils of blackness unfurl from the little girl’s shadow like tentacles. They
spill over the railing and crawl across the floor in front of us. The coppery
scent of decomposition fills the space. Whoever she used to be, she’s a corpse
now. A reanimated, rotting corpse. Mothballs suddenly don’t smell so bad.
“Jump.”
Aaron says and I do. We sail over whatever it is that seeps from her shadow as
we sprint past her.
Annalise
reaches for my arm. I jerk my elbow across my body before she touches me and
the breeze from her fingertips grazes my skin.
It
was just the wind that touched me, I’m sure, but for a moment my vision blurs.
A flash of light replaces the junk-filled attic, then pale, twisted, writhing
bodies. Blood. Broken bones. Pain. So much pain. And fear.
Just
as quickly as it came, the vision disappears. I almost lose my breakfast on the
floor, but I somehow manage to keep running. We barrel through another mountain
of junk—more furniture and boxes—and into Bobby’s bedroom.
Purchase Links
CALL ME GRIM
The
truck should have turned Libbi Piper into a Libbi Pancake—and it would have,
too, if Aaron hadn't shown up and saved her life. The problem? Aaron's the
local Grim Reaper . . . and he only saved Libbi's life because he needs someone
to take over his job. Now, Libbi has two days to choose between dying like she
was supposed to, or living a lonely life as Death Incarnate. Talk about a rock
and a hard place. And the choice goes from hard to sucktastic when her best
friend shows up marked: condemned as a future murderer. Libbi could have an
extra week to stop the murder and fix the mark . . . but only if she accepts
Aaron's job as Reaper, trapping herself in her crappy town forever, invisible
and inaudible to everyone except the newly dead. But, if she refuses? Her best
friend is headed straight for Hell.
About the Author
Elizabeth
Holloway is a writer of young adult fiction living in Southern Pennsylvania
with her two teen children and their growing number of pets.
In
addition to writing, she is a registered nurse, an avid reader, an out-of-practice
artist, a karaoke singer, and music lover. She is still trying to decide what
she wants to be when she grows up.
Connect with the
Author
Giveaway
One
(1) winner will receive a $15 Amazon gift card and a digital copy of
Death Becomes Me by Elizabeth Holloway (INT)
Four (4) winners will receive a digital copy of
Death Becomes Me by
Elizabeth Holloway (INT)
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